1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to obtaining an X-ray image of bones and soft tissues of a subject using a plurality of X-rays having different energy levels.
2. Description of the Related Art
An X-ray imaging apparatus irradiates an X-ray onto a subject, analyzes the X-ray passing through the subject and, thereby, an inner structure of the subject may be observed. Since transmission of X-rays is varied depending on the structure of the subject, the inner structure of the subject can be imaged using an attenuation coefficient expressed as a numeral value of this variation.
Recently, methods for obtaining an X-ray image by irradiating an X-ray having different energy levels, instead of an X-ray with a single energy, have been developed and a variety of research associated therewith is underway.
According to one or more of these methods, an energy X-ray imaging apparatus sequentially irradiates an X-ray with a first energy and an X-ray with a second energy onto a subject to obtain a plurality of transmission images and thereby to obtain a clear image in which bones and soft tissue of the subject are separated using the images. However, such X-ray imaging apparatus independently outputs individual images of bones and soft tissues, thus being disadvantageous in that it is difficult to confirm the geometric relation between bones and soft tissues and observation of a plurality of images is inconvenient.